BILL NUMBER: SJR 26	CHAPTERED  05/26/00

	RESOLUTION CHAPTER   69
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE   MAY 26, 2000
	ADOPTED IN SENATE   MAY 24, 2000
	ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 22, 2000
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY   MAY 11, 2000

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Kelley

                        JANUARY 11, 2000

   Senate Joint Resolution No. 26--Relative to the Mission Creek and
Desert Hot Springs Aquifers.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SJR 26, Kelley.  Mission Creek and Desert Hot Springs Aquifers.
   This measure would memorialize the President and the Congress of
the United States to enact legislation to make available necessary
funds to implement groundwater protection measures for the Mission
Creek and Desert Hot Springs Aquifers.




   WHEREAS, The 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act state
that the Congress of the United States finds that more effective
protection of public health requires the "prevention of drinking
water contamination through ...  enhanced protection of source waters
of public water systems"; and
   WHEREAS, The water of the Mission Creek Aquifer is the sole source
of the potable water supply for approximately 25,000 people who live
in and around the City of Desert Hot Springs, California, and is
recognized internationally as pristine and of very high quality,
being judged "Best Tasting" municipal water at the 1999 International
Water Tasting and Competition in Berkeley Springs, West Virginia,
and requires no treatment prior to being served domestically; and
   WHEREAS, The Desert Hot Springs Aquifer, the sole source of the
area's internationally famed, odorless, therapeutic hot mineral water
and the primary revenue source for the regional economy, the local
tourist spa industry, is recognized as a high-risk resource due to
discharges from, and failures of, individual septic systems overlying
the shallow aquifer; and
   WHEREAS, The United States Geological Survey, the Colorado River
Basin Regional Water Quality Control Board, the State Department of
Health Services, the Riverside County Department of Environmental
Health, and the Board of Directors of the Mission Springs Water
District recommend and concur with plans to phase out septic systems
overlying these aquifers for the purpose of retaining long-term water
quality preservation, and the results of that action will work to
secure the groundwater basin for storage of a safe, reliable,
drinking water source; and
   WHEREAS, The Mission Creek and Desert Hot Springs Aquifers are
components of the Salton Sea Transboundary Watershed and are included
in the Colorado River Basin Regional Water Quality Control Board's
1999 Watershed Management Initiative, and, in that initiative, the
regional board assigns the protection of drinking water sources the
highest priority, equal to the restoration of impaired water bodies,
and lists septic contamination in Desert Hot Springs as an issue of
regional significance, and recognizes the importance of securing
funding for infrastructure to mitigate this threat to water quality,
the public health, and the economic viability of the region; and
   WHEREAS, According to the Environmental Protection Agency's 1994
report to Congress, entitled National Water Quality Inventory,
nitrate was the second most common groundwater contaminant identified
by the various states.  The report further states that the costs for
preventing contamination in smaller public systems are estimated to
be 1/10 to 1/100 of the costs of remediation; and
   WHEREAS, Many more federal funds have been allocated to clean up
impaired water resources than to preserve the quality of waterbodies
and the costs of cleanup activities exceed those of preservation
activities by hundreds of millions of dollars.  Additionally, the
costs of remediation do not necessarily include intangible costs such
as increased health risks, diversion of community funds from other
needs, loss of consumer confidence and hysteria, and economic
impairment; and
   WHEREAS, Due to the unique quality of the Mission Creek and Desert
Hot Springs Aquifers, the Congress of the United States should
recognize these precious resources as worthy of protection and
preservation and prudent fiscal management and water resource
management dictate that the federal government join with state and
local stakeholders to participate in the costs of protection and
preservation efforts; and
   WHEREAS, The Legislature of the State of California enacted
legislation authored by Senator David Kelley in 1998, Senate Bill
1852, requiring the Colorado River Basin Regional Water Quality
Control Board to prohibit the discharge from existing or new septic
systems on parcels of less than 1/2 acre that overlie the Mission
Creek and Desert Hot Springs Aquifers if a sewer system is available
within 200 feet of the property, in order to mitigate this
significant threat to the groundwater quality.  This legislation
serves as preparatory action to ensure mitigation of the effects of
private wastewater systems as sewers become available in this
environmentally sensitive area; and
   WHEREAS, The community of Desert Hot Springs has suffered extreme
hardship conditions from economic recession throughout the 1990s and
is not able to fully fund water quality preservation measures, but is
nonetheless committed to shouldering a significant portion of the
costs in partnership with the state and federal government; now,
therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate and Assembly of the State of California,
jointly, That the Legislature respectfully memorializes the President
and the Congress of the United States to enact legislation to make
available necessary funds to implement groundwater protection
measures for the pristine Mission Creek and Desert Hot Springs
Aquifers, and by doing so, to demonstrate fiscal and environmental
stewardship for the long-term protection of the quality of these
exceptional groundwater resources; and be it further
   Resolved, That the President and Congress of the United States
recognize that the preservation of these water resources as a
national priority would exemplify a commitment by the federal
government to prioritize the preservation of the nation's natural
resources and fiscal prudence; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of
the Senate, and each Senator and Representative from California in
the Congress of the United States.
